Is Everyone You Want to Reach on Your Email List? – Probably not

Do you believe that email is the best marketing vehicle around? Are you certain?

Sure, email isn’t entirely infallible; it has its disadvantages, but so does every other marketing channel, including Facebook and Twitter.

Consider the Disadvantages of email marketing: Is everyone you want to reach on your email list? – Probably not and then you find that,

1. Some email goes unopened. Do you open all your email?
2. There are deliverability issues: Tar Pitting, Spam Traps, stale addresses etc. At one time or another, you will have deliverability problems.
3. There are creativity limitations of the email marketer or how many ways can you say, “This offer expires soon”.
4. There may be size restrictions set by your recipients in their email client (i.e. Outlook): no graphics allowed. Do you download all emailed html and graphics on your home computer?
5. Your list members have different communication preferences. Have you wished your favorite email newsletter only contained items you were interested in and sent to your other email address?
6. You might be suffering from List Fatigue; you wore out your welcome. Be candid, do you want to hear from your favorite store every single day?
7. Responses dwindle as engagement diminishes. You too are guilty of sending unwanted email to your junk folder instead of unsubscribing aren’t you?
8. Best results may require testing emails with A/B split testing. Sounds like more work and time.
9. You have to maintain a sender’s reputation. But you were told all those demographics from that rented list really did fit your ideal buyer profile.
10. Someone has to do list maintenance.

You might compare email marketing to traditional marketing … Is everyone you want to reach watching your TV commercials, opening your snail mailed flyer, reading your ad in that certain magazine, listening to that particular radio show, driving by that billboard …? Of course not. In addition, can you be certain the demographic data they give you is up to date and reports current? Can you even confirm you’re hitting your target audience with the right message?

Can you then conclude (from this brief presentation) that there’s more advantages using email marketing over traditional marketing?

Yes, you can!

Consider the Advantages of email marketing:

1. Instant results. You know who read your email.
2. Fastest marketing channel in use today. Just hit the send button on your keyboard.
3. Rapid brand recognition and reinforcement with behavior based triggered messages. Acknowledge your engaged emails (i.e.) a purchase, with transactional emails.
4. Send messages according to your list recipient’s schedule. Allow them to tell you when they want to hear from you again; offer a profile page.
5. You can conduct an email campaign in stages. Introduce a new brand and follow up with a sale and then a reminder.
6. Allows consumers to respond to your email at their leisure. They feel in control.
7. Create colorful HTML newsletters to grab interest. Avoid static, mundane, see it everyday messages.
8. Personalized email from beginning to end of each message. Not only can you say Dear Mary, you can send Mary information tailored just to her interests and do the same for all your email recipients in no time at all, no matter how many list members you have.
9. Did I mention the most cost-effective marketing tool around? For less than the cost of a postage stamp, send thousands of targeted, relevant messages to people who want to receive your emails.
10. The best way for customers to communication with favorite brands.

The advantages of email are hard to beat. You will do great with email, using opted-in lists and the latest list technology – So is this all you need? Should you even bother with Social Media?

Yes, you should, because it seems everyone is using it! Of course, like email, social media channels such as facebook and Twitter have their own disadvantages. (Which I will not cover here). However numbers alone support the fact that social media is another powerful way to engage customers with studies that indicate social media comes in second as a marketing tool right behind number one, email.

And like opted-in member lists used in email marketing, Twitter and Facebook, are both permission-based channels. As separate entities, email, Twitter and Facebook are extremely effective marketing tools but working together, they can take customer engagement to new heights.

Advantages using Email and Social Media

1. A continuous way to keep your prospects engaged with your brand. Your customer base will increase.
2. Reinforce buying recommendations with email and social media channels.
3. Email list membership growth. Use your social media “likes” and offer your facebook members the opportunity to opted-in to your existing email-marketing list: likewise offer a signup link to your email list on Twitter.
4. Create an additional support network for your email campaigns. Work your social media connections by promoting the same on facebook while chatting them up on Twitter – all designed to keep your subscribers and prospects engaged with your brand and offerings.
5. Support and grow your subscriber base by including social media links in your emails.
6. Acquire customer insight. Read all the comments, for example, posted on facebook on your business page. Know what customers are saying, are they happy are they complaining? Discover relevant topics and trends that you can leverage to design and prioritize your email marketing efforts.
7. Ascertain the motivation driving your customers to share your content with others by taking the time to learn which social network your type of customer uses more frequently.
8. Communicate directly to your customer by publically answering questions and concerns. Use these questions for a basis in future email campaign.
9. With testimonials and comments on your product, service or company your customer engages others for you. Include reference links in your email to these public posts.
10. Measure the success of email campaigns and the social network connections to you company by taking advantage of free analytic tools.

As you can see, the advantages of using email marketing far out weight the disadvantages of email marketing. The advantage of email marketing used in conjunction with the power of social media further reduces the disadvantages – they become almost nonexistent. It might take some finesse to work out integration challenges between email marketing and your desired social media platform but it’s been proven its well worth the effort. Need help or ideas contact Dundee Internet today!